Operation: End of the Line
Operation: End of the Line is a mission undertaken by the XCOM cell of the Resistance during Enemy Reborn. The mission was originally theorised by Fielde Locke after Sunset Shimmer discovered ADVENT had acquired the Siphon, and as such were in danger of releasing the stolen Magic and completely surpassing any Resistance cells including XCOM, ECOM, the Reapers, the Skirmishers, and the Templars. Twilight Sparkle discovered the Siphon's location. The Siphon was supposedly being transported by an ADVENT train from a previously unknown Black Site to Canterlot, where XCOM knew they would never be able to reach it. As such, XCOM planned an assault on the train as it was moving through Everfree Forest. Resistance forces would plant a bomb on the bridge over Ghastly Gorge and detonate it as the train approached, resulting in the train being forced to stop and allowing XCOM to hit it. However, the plan changed as the situation altered significantly. While on their way to the train's location, Menace 1-5 was informed by Bradford that the bomb had detonated as planned, but the detonation was delayed and as such the train had little time to stop, making it plunge into Ghastly Gorge and impact on the ground far below. XCOM was forced to change their tactics. As the Skyranger could not fit into the Gorge, Spitfire was forced to land on the edge of the ravine and the ground forces had to rappel down to a shallower drop and make their way to the wreck while Bourbon would provide long-range support from the Skyranger. As Menace 1-5 approached the train, they had to deal with scattered and wounded ADVENT forces as well as some severely damaged MECs. While these forces provided little threat, one train car was completely blocking the path and had to be moved through, and when Vladimir planted explosives on the car's doors to open it, he was thrown back by a new unit -a Behemoth- charging through the doors with two Superheavy MECs supporting it. Vladimir managed to recover and kill one of the Superheavy MECs while Sunset hacked into another, permanently "flipping" it to work for XCOM as the team attacked the Behemoth. Having never engaged one before, the team had to experiment. An entire train car was dropped onto the foe after Vladimir used a Power Shot against a suspended car above the Behemoth, though it kept fighting. Fielde finally managed to decapitate the Pony pilot but the suit kept fighting with bull rushes and melee strikes. After a relentless onslaught from Vladimir, Bourbon and Fielde, the Behemoth went down for good and XCOM moved to recover the Siphon, only to discover the artefact was not in any of the cars at all. Soon after, Resistance contacts informed XCOM that the artefact had never left the ADVENT Black Site, and that the whole ordeal was likely a trap. This made Union suspicious of Twilight as it was her idea to attack the train despite no other units giving evidence that it contained the Siphon, though Fielde remained adamant that Twilight was on their side and had made a simple mistake. XCOM did not class the mission as a total failure as they had both recovered a fully-functional Superheavy MEC (lovingly nicknamed "Bulwark" by Fielde) and successfully killed a new ENDURE unit known as a Behemoth, able to autopsy it and develop a weapon upgrade for Vladimir known as Walking Tank, which gave him an Energy Shield akin to that of an ADVENT Shieldbearer so long as his weapon was spun-up.